Living an Act or Acting a Life
by devinous
Summary: Behind hide his cheerful mask,Naruto has always been alone.When Kyuubi accidentally activates the wrong jutsu and Naruto is sent through space and time.Now the orphan has no-idea how to act around those who care, or even how to live normally.More inside
1. Prolouge

**Summary: Behind hide his cheerful mask, Naruto has always been alone. When Kyuubi accidentally activates the wrong jutsu and Naruto is sent through space and time. Now the orphan has no-idea how to act around those who care, or even how to live normally. But, if the kyuubi can find a way to get him back, ill he go? **

**This is a short story, but may be extended if requested.**

**Note: they are in the forest of death, just after being attacked by Orochimaru. Instead of sealing Naruto's charka, he simply stabbed him, marked Sasuke and left.**

**P.S.: minor Sakura bashing here everyone, since she has yet to "wake up"**

Naruto struggled to take a breath. Uselessly he grabbed at the kunai pierced into his chest. Sakura was cooing over 'her' Sasuke-kun and his 'nasty bruise' why he died.

'_Moron'_ Naruto thought, _'It's easy to see that's a seal and a nasty one too…'_ he winced and thought mentally, 'Kyu, a little help?'

The fox looked up in Naruto's subconscious and felt for his state, still drossy from his nap. Realizing that a normal healing wouldn't cut it, he activated a mass healing Jutsu, thinking; _**'if only my kit could live a better life…'**_ outside, Naruto's vision suddenly blurred and he for next to the Kyuubi's cage. The stab wound on his chest had disappeared and Naruto found himself shrinking..

"Kyu!" Naruto shouted, fear evident in his voice. At this, the sleepy fox 's head shot up. Naruto had never been truly frightened in years, not since the demon fox and healed and comforted him a s a child.

Looking for his kit he found him, becoming smaller,_ 'no not smaller, the Kyuubi realized, Younger!'_

"What's happening?" cried the now-six year old, who seemed to have stopped shedding years. As he did so, the air rippled and there was a bang . The last thing Naruto heard was, "**Don't worry, I'll…"**

**--X—**

"What do you mean he just vanished?" Kakashi almost screamed with frustration. Hi two students stood in front of him, struggling not to cower. Kakashi wasn't famous for nothing.

Kakashi wanted to pull his hair out. Sakura had known Naruto was stabbed, _through the heart, _and had been too obsessed over sasuke's 'bruise' to take care of him. Because they couldn't pass without Naruto, they had spent the entire week in the forest, until someone retrieved them.

Someone coughed politely and the scarecrow turned to see Gaara of the sand. Unknown to him, Naruto had spoken to Gaara prior to the exam, and the boy was starting to see sense, though he pretended not to. Being another demon vessel, Gaara had immediately seen through Naruto's cheerful act. Once he had been told Naruto's life story anyway.

"Yes Gaara-san?" Kakashi said, nodding to him.

Gaara looked him straight in the eye and said, "I know what happened to your student, Naruto Uzamaki."

**--X—**

**There short and to the point**


	2. Surprise, Surprise!

**Okay first I want to let you people know that this story is going to take a while to write, Though it's suppose to be a short story, only about five chapters long, I'm having trouble writing it. I only posted it because it been bugging me for a while.**

Naruto woke up with a grown. He sat up, rubbing were he had been stabbed through the chests. Only phantom pains remained. Glancing around, Naruto immediately tensed up. Something was wrong. What had happened, he wondered as he glanced around the strange room. It wasn't his house, or the room they might hold those injured in the exam, though he was no-longer injured. It was finely furnished, with a nice window on wall, curtains blocking out the light. It was obviously a child's room, with stuffed animals on the shelf's and a toy box in the corner. He glanced at his the blankets of the bed he was in, seeing the lame-looking shuriken and kunai, compared to the real one's Naruto handled everyday.

Hearing footsteps on the hallway outside, Naruto laid down and pretended to sleep tell he had gathered some info. _'Maybe there kidnappers'_ he thought, _'and they want the Kyuubi power'_

He continued to plan as his possible kidnapper walked into his room. His thoughts quickly ground to a halt and his breath caught in his chest as he caught site of the newcomer through his cracked eyelids.

--X--

Kakashi took a deep breath. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep himself calm.

Garra waved him into farther along the small ante-chamber of the Hokage office, where Kakashi was standing. Kakashi followed, a bit uneasy. "tell me, Kakashi-san, do you know who I am?" Garra asked

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, you are Garra, the youngest son of the Kazekage." He replied after a moment.

Garra nodded slowly, "let me rephrase the question, do you know _what_ I am?"

Kakashi hesitated a moment, wondering what to say. "Yes, you are the human container for shukuku, the one-tail raccoon."

"Put it simply, Kakashi-san. I am a Monster." Garra stated flatly.

"You are not a monster!" Kakashi argued. "To say that is to say my own student is a monster!"

Garra chuckled humorlessly. "I am not a monster because of the demon, Kakashi-san; I am a monster because of my decision of what to do about it. Any way, Since Naruto I hold the Kyuubi, he detected me the moment I, another demon host, stepped foot within Konoha. He approached me two-nights later. I tried, and failed, to kill him on the spot. He dodged my initial attacks and quickly explained to me who and what he was. Then he sat down with me and told me his life story. It was just as terrible as mine, and yet…"Garra shook his head in wonder

"And yet he continued to look up at the bright side, withstanding it with iron determination…" Kakashi finished the sentence in a murmur.

"Your Wrong, at least, partly." Garra intruded his voice still quiet. "He did withstand it with an iron will. But he doesn't always look on the bright side. He just pretends to."

"What?" Kakashi asked, glancing back towards his students, who where still in front of the Hokage's door.

"Naruto only acts so cheery. I knew it the moment I heard his life story and knew he was a demon host. There's no way someone could live that life and be so cheery. I told him so and he agreed, dropping his act….Anyways, were off subject."

Kakashi, though curious, nodded. "What happened?"

"As you probably know, shukuku give me an ultimate defense that protects me automatically. Kyuubi doesn't have a solid element, with which would give Naruto a similar protection. Instead he gives Naruto a healing ability, which increases Naruto's healing rate even with-out his intervention. But he can heal wounds almost instantaneously if he does intervene. "

Kakashi had seen that healing work on more than one occasion and nodded to show he understood.

Garra continued, "Did you know the demons have to use jutsu's, just like us? Only they don't need hand seals or time to do them." Kakashi shook his head. "Didn't think so. So for a stab wound to the heart. Kyuubi would have had to activate a large healing jutsu. Much larger than normal. I meditated and talked to shukuku, the first time I've ever done so, and he thinks that his older brother used a jutsu to erase time's effect on Naruto's body. He actually planned on simply de-aging Naruto about an hour, making so that the stab mark never-appeared."

"So what happened? Did he de-age Naruto completely?"

"No, we believe something went wrong with the jutsu. You see, for it to work, it opens a hole from another dimension and draws how he's supposed to be from there. You heard the loud bang in the forest, right?" At Kakashi's nod, Garra continued, " we that happened when something large vanished suddenly, so…"

"Wait," Kakashi interrupted, "Ninja's used replacement and transportation jutsu's all the time. There's never a loud bang then."

"Correct, however, using one of those, you reappear somewhere else. The air moves to accommodate you, so when you appear, the spot you just left is pushed by the air you're replacing, closing the gap. But in this case, Naruto didn't reappear somewhere-else, because he was taken to another dimension. He will have combined with his other self physically. Meaning he'll have taken the other Naruto's place."

"Wait! Are you telling me my students in another dimension?" Kakashi barely stopped himself from shouting.

Garra nodded, "Yes, I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm saying, but I might be able to get him back, but it's very risky…"


	3. Things get a bit confusing

The forth Hokage of Konoha stood in the doorway, the hall light streaming past him. He smiled at Naruto, obviously falling for the well practiced ruse. Shaking his head lightly, he left and Naruto dove in his subconscious, seeking answers. Never once did Genjutsu or any other type of trick cross his mind. The situation was much to real.

Naruto 'landed' in front of the cage with one slight problem. The cage was gone. In it's place was a swirling void of black and blue. A small gasp-turned-whimper sounded behind him, and Naruto turned to see a younger…err, mirror image of himself, right down to the pajama's. the only difference lay in their postures. One confident, one crouched in fear.

Make that two problems.

"umm…hi?" Naruto began.

"Who are you!" the other boy demanded, his voice quavering.

"well…" Naruto began, "I believe I'm you, though I'm not quite sure how…"

"I might be able to explain." Red chakra was forming over Naruto's shoulder, settling into the form of a small fox. "You see, I accidentally pulled you into another dimension." The fox looked a little sheepish. Naruto's face was white.

"Explain." Younger Naruto slipped closer, his curiosity overwhelming, and listened in awe as the small fox explained the healing just that interrupted space-time.

Finally the 'older' Naruto said, "What about him, I mean me."

The fox sighed.. When the jutsu pull at your younger self. You became it, and it had to fit that younger self into the same dimension. Hence, two of you."

Naruto's mind worked fast, figuring it out. "But if we where pulling on him, how come he's inside my mind. And why are we stuck in his dimension?"

"We'll for one, you're older and have the dominate personality. Since only one of you can exist I a dimension, you bodies melded, with your's on top…"The Kyuubi hesitated.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I think we ended up in this dimension because, you simply have less tying you down then he did."

Naruto sighed, "I guess that's true."

A small voice came from the left. "So how do we fix it."

-X-

Naruto lay in 'his' bed, putting the pieces together that the fox had left unspoken. Naruto had always suspected that he was related to the forth. The resemblance was just too uncanny else ways. Now that was confirmed, though he wished it was under less grim circumstances. Together they had been unable to think of a way back. The Kyuubi simply didn't have the power to open another gate, he could only bring a little of his power into this dimension, since even space could only contain so much power and this worlds demon fox had to be here somewhere.

Naruto heard soft talking don the hall and knew he had to get up soon, but he had a slight problem. He had acted as someone else as long as he could remember, even switched characters a few times to help get food or clothing cheaper. Theoretically, this was the same thing with one major difference. He had no idea how to act.

'Kyuubi , I'm…scared.' he thought to the being deep inside his very soul. There was a pause as the fox thought of a reply. It had been 12 long years since that admittance had been spoken.

'You have every right to be, kit.' the kyuubi mental voice was soft, even comforting.

Suddenly defensive Naruto continued, 'It's just that, I have no basis for this act, no experience, no time to…'

A head poked it way around the corner. "So your finally awake, huh son?" the question was full of humor and Naruto gave him a big grin, wiping his thought away in a rush that spoke of years of experience.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, father." he replied in the same ton, secretly glad the 4th had recognized their relationship so naruto didn't have to guess.

"Come on, breakfast is ready sleepyhead!" With that he left, laughing as Naruto suddenly threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed, realizing exactly how hungry he was. He was tempted to get to the table using a jutsu or chakra method, partly to get their faster, partly to check his chakra reserves and control. But he didn't dare.

Following the sounds of conversation, he found several people sitting around a large table, overfilling with food. He quickly dug in, seeming to ignore everyone but discreetly keeping an eye on everyone in case something else was needed of him. But everyone ignored him and naruto quickly started to recognize plenty of them. Some were obviously old friend with the Hokage, but most were on the ninja council. In fact, Naruto noticed, the entire ninja council was here and seemed to being in the middle of a meeting, which Naruto found highly amusing.

Finishing his plate he went into the kitchen and went to the sink. Running on a sort of auto, he found a footstool and stepped over so he could see into the sink. The he scrubbed clean his plate and headed back towards his rooms. Forgetting to replace the stool, he headed back to his room, hearing his father chattering away. He was not to know, that later a housekeeper found the clean plate set aside to dry, or that she mentioned it to his father who dismissed it as Naruto being mature. But that one action would start an avalanche in the Hokage's mind later.

Instead, he went into his room and found a calendar pinned to his wall. Studying it Naruto found the date, since the Kyuubi had told him he had gone back exactly seven years, plus 18 hours or so. On the day Naruto's finger landed on, a big circle was marked with sloppy handwriting in a red pen that said, 'Genjutsu practice Starts today!'

Naruto groaned, he hated genjutsu.

-X-

Gaara stood in front of the Hokage of Konoha. A dead moon hung outside the window, illuminating the office. Kakashi stood beside Gaara, studying the Hokage's face as Gaara finished. The aging man frowned, fingers on his forehead.

"I always wondered if the Biju could manipulate the dimensional barrier. To think that…Well, there's nothing we can do Kakashi, except trust in young Gaara-san here." The Hokage's eyes pierced Gaara. "I'm putting my trust in you, young man. Naruto has been through too much to deserve this."

"I know. And I hate to point this out, Hokage-sama, but there is a very likely chance that Naruto's living a better life here than he could ever get here."

The aged man nodded. "I know, I just hope we can convince him to come back. Despite his impression, some of us really do wish him well. I'm also hoping convincing him won't be that hard, since he's not actually living at all…"

Kakashi frowned, "Hokage-sama?"

"Sorry, it's just that, I've suspected for a long time Naruto wasn't what he seemed. It's probably because I've known him longer than anybody. Anyway, After Gaara's news, I believe that Naruto stopped actually living a long time ago, all he has left is a series of acts…"

Gaara nodded, having had similar thought when he first met Naruto and heard his story.

"Gaara, I'm giving you permission to start the preparations. Tell me if you need anything."

Gaara nodded, then hesitated. If he took the next step, he would be crossing the very thin line a betraying his country, and his father.

As if sensing his thoughts, the aging leader glanced at him. "Is there something else?"

Taking a deep breath Gaara wondered what his new friend would do in this situation. Then he had to smile a little. For all Naruto was a mystery, he was extremely honorable and would no doubt do what had to be done. "Yes, Hokage-sama. It's about the chunin exam's…"

-X-

There it is! Finally up and ready for your eyes!


	4. Auhors Note Mistake!

note! Chapter 3 has been updated. it was accedently posted while incomplete. Read the ending! this notice will dissapear with my next update! 


End file.
